IntelliFlo VS recommendations for the best efficiency

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schrody

schrody

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Aug 20, 2008
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Fort Worth, TX
Hopefully staying on topic as I have an IntelliFlo VS. Does anyone have recommendations for the best efficiency?

i.e. Do you program it based on 2-3 turnovers per day (even though that results in a low filter PSI)? Or if you aim for a higher PSI based on your filter does it still save electricity when running at 400-600 Watts?
 
The motor itself is more efficient than a standard induction motor even at equivalent speeds, but the slower you move the water the more you'll save. You need to at least have enough water movement for the pool to circulate properly, your skimmer to function, etc., so that would probably mean a minimum of around 30 gpm which is already close to a 4 turnover/day rate for you.

I'd start there and try going lower, but once the surface starts to stay dirty, you start noticing dead spots where algae show up despite proper chemistry, or the water just isn't filtering properly you'll know you've gone too far.
 
One solution is to run the pump on a very low speed most of the time, and then speed it up for short periods. Depending on what your timer/automation system can do you can either run on the higher speed for one hour a day, or better, run on the higher speed for 10 or 15 minutes every couple of hours.
 
At some point, you'll run into the "fixed" energy used by the pump regardless of speed. I have an IntelliFlo VF pump, but I've tried different manual speeds and found the following where you can see that the lowest speed isn't necessarily that much more efficient when accounting for the time of one turnover. There is a flat spot near the slower speeds and the ideal may be anywhere in the 15-26 GPM range, though obviously this depends a lot on the specific plumbing. The runtime for one turnover is for my 16,000 gallon pool.

15 GPM (17.78 hours), 1185 RPM, 155 Watts ---> 2.76 KWh
18 GPM (14.81 hours), 1325 RPM, 195 Watts ---> 2.89 KWh
24 GPM (11.11 hours), 1460 RPM, 255 Watts ---> 2.83 KWh
26 GPM (10.26 hours), 1495 RPM, 275 Watts ---> 2.82 KWh (measured at different time so might be a little higher in reality)
30 GPM (8.89 hours), 1805 RPM, 420 Watts ---> 3.73 KWh
36 GPM (7.41 hours), 1975 RPM, 535 Watts ---> 3.96 KWh
40 GPM (6.67 hours), 2075 RPM, 615 Watts ---> 4.10 KWh
42 GPM (6.35 hours), 2160 RPM, 685 Watts ---> 4.35 KWh
48 GPM (5.56 hours), 2310 RPM, 835 Watts ---> 4.64 KWh
54 GPM (4.94 hours), 2490 RPM, 1030 W ---> 5.09 KWh
60 GPM (4.44 hours), 2710 RPM, 1305 W ---> 5.79 KWh
66 GPM (4.04 hours), 2900 RPM, 1590 W ---> 6.42 KWh
72 GPM (3.70 hours), 3080 RPM, 1895 W ---> 7.01 KWh
78 GPM (3.42 hours), 3360 RPM, 2495 W ---> 8.53 KWh

I do notice that surface circulation and skimmer vortex suction isn't as efficient at lower speeds, so Jason has a good suggestion of doing a mix so that you can still get decent cleaning. Since I have a pool cover that tends to inhibit surface circulation anyway, I just have my non-solar flow set at 26 GPM. Usually, the solar is on 4-6 hours a day with its 48 GPM and the total cycle is 8 hours. The solar energy cost is far higher than shown above since the 48 GPM requires 2980 RPM and 1500 Watts.

Richard
 
Good information. Thanks! One thing you mention is it depends on the specific plumbing. Unfortunately they installed my pool with 1 1/2" PVC running between the pool and filter (it is a really old pool). I keep reading recommendations of 2" minimum.
 
1 1/2" may not be all bad depending on how the pool is plumbed. For example, if you have separate pipes from the main drains and skimmer, this has about the same head loss as a shared single 2" pipe. Same for the return side. Multiple smaller pipes can be just as effective if not more so than a single larger pipe.

As for the efficiency of the Intelliflo, for most setups, the highest Gallons/Watt-hour seems to be around 1000 RPM. Below about 900 RPM, the efficiency starts to get worse again so the sweet spot is around 1000 RPM +-. But as Richard's data showed, low RPMs have a pretty low flow rate which might not work so well for skimming.
 
I'm pretty sure it's just one line. I have no knowledge of what is underground but the pool has one skimmer and a main drain and there is only one 1 1/2" suction line coming up and into the pump. There is a splitter on the return lines.

The IntelliFlo is currently running at 650 W, 2220 RPM, 28 GPM which is only showing 10 psi at the filter.

Edit: I have it running 23 hours/day and set to 3 cycles/day.
 
Based upon your operating point, I agree that you probably have single lines. The efficiency about 2.6 Gallons per Watt-hr. The peak efficiency of the Intelliflo is close to 12 Gallons per Watt-hr @ 1000 RPM with a well designed plumbing system so you are well off that. You might try to get closer to 1000 RPM to see if you can improve the efficiency some. Unfortunately, the flow rate will drop to about 13 GPM which may not be ideal for the skimmers.

[EDIT] At 23 hours per day & 28 GPM, the pump is turning over the pool more than 3 times per day. Do you really need that?

Also, how do you know it is running at 28 GPM?
 
mas985 said:
Also, how do you know it is running at 28 GPM?
Click to expand...
That is what the pump displays. If I press up or down while the pump is running it will cycle through Watts, RPM, GPM, and something about Filter %. The last I assume is a measure it uses to determine warning and alert messages for pressure increases.
 
So do you have the variable flow (VF) pump? The title and signature indicates the Intelliflo VS (variable speed).
 

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After looking at the VF and VS manuals...the features more closely resemble the VF. I still stand by the fact that the manual and sticker say "IntelliFlo" in bold and "Variable Speed Pump" underneath it. Maybe the thread title and my signature need updating? I'll await you're opinion on the matter. :scratch:
 
As far as know, the variable speed (VS-3050) does not display flow rates which makes me think that you have a VF pump. But the real test is; do you set speed or do you set flow rate? The VS you can only set the speed and I thought that with the VF, you can only set flow rate.

When you read the manual, it looks like to can set both speed and flow rate so my guess is that it is a version of the VF.

[EDIT] After looking at the Pentair site, they do have a VS+SVRS which is stated to be a variable speed pump and it has a digital display. However, it doesn't look like you can set flow rates or even see them. So you probably have a VF.
 
Check out manual mode and see if you can set either the speed (RPM) or the flow rate (GPM). That's what I can do with my IntelliFlo VF. With what you describe with filter mode, I'm 99% sure you have the variable flow model because turnovers per day and cycles per day (and presumably, size of pool in gallons entered somewhere) can only turn off the pump early if it knows the flow rate.

Richard
 
Yes, I can input speed or flow rate. Also entered pool size during configuration. Updated profile to show VF.

I backed down to 2 turnovers but also shortened the run time to 10 hours. It is now running 1100 watts, 2660 rpm, and 48 gpm.

A question for the wise: Should I back it down to one turnover and find an appropriate cycle time to achieve close to 1000 rpm? If I did that, I could also add a feature or two that would run at a higher flow rate for short amounts of time.

Semi-unrelated I'm considering switching to cartridge because it's easier than changing sand and my filter valve is acting up again. I like the idea of not having to backwash and getting better filtration. Although the zeosand seems to be doing alright, I'm not sold on it.
 
If you make the run time 24 hours but keep the turnovers to 2, the RPM should drop to about 1100 and the GPM to 20. That should give you much better efficiency and will keep circulation going 24/7. You may still need a little higher speed for a few hours a day just to keep the leaves from sinking to the bottom.

During the winter, you could easily get away with only 1 turn per day, assuming you don't close. I go down to 1/2 turn for most of the winter and the pool stays pretty clean. When water temp goes below 50, I reduce run time to 1/4 turn per day.

As for the cartridge filter, if you go that route just make sure it is a big one. With your size pool, a 320 sq-ft filter would be more than big enough and you would only need to clean it once a year.
 
Set it for 12:00 AM - 11:50 PM (it doesn't seem to want to accept 24 hours) and started it up about 10:00 AM. It was running 1600 rpm and 18 gpm so I don't think I'll achieve 1100/20. I'll have to look again tomorrow to see what speed and flow are when it starts the cycle at the correct time.

Thanks for all the help and suggestions...they are much appreciated! :goodjob:
 
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